<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Bradley Hand ITC";
panose-1:3 7 4 2 5 3 2 3 2 3;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph
{mso-style-priority:34;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;
mso-add-space:auto;
line-height:115%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
line-height:115%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
line-height:115%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;
mso-add-space:auto;
line-height:115%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:1764253568;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:-168391618 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 21, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">To: CA/Browser Forum Members<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">From: Kirk Hall, Trend Micro<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Re: Possible Changes to Quorum Calculations<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On our bi-weekly call on Thursday, I suggested we should look at changes to our current balloting rules as to (1) how we calculate whether a necessary quorum has participated in a ballot, and
(2) whether enough CAs and browsers have voted to approve a proposed ballot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">I raised this issue in connection with the results of Ballot 88 on BR Errata. On that Ballot, only 9 Members voted – 6 CAs voted yes, 3 CAs explicitly abstained, and no browsers voted. Because
the minimum number for a quorum is now only 6 Members (CAs and browsers together), Ballot 88 was deemed to pass. (In contrast, the first round of voting on a possible new governance structure garnered 17 votes.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">My concern was twofold:
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">I had been under the impression that ballots could only be approved by “substantial consensus” of all Forum members, which I though required approval by 2/3 of CAs and 50% plus 1
of browsers. Ballot 88 was approved with no affirmative votes of the browsers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">I think that allowing a ballot to be approved by a vote of no more than 6 Members simply sets the bar too low. This could mean that a vote where only 4 CAs vote yes and 2 CAs vote
no, with no browsers voting, could approve new mandatory requirements for the industry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Some would argue that a vote of only 6 members (even a 4-2 vote) should be sufficient to represent “substantial consensus” among Forum members because the failure to vote means that a Member
doesn’t object to the ballot proposal. Also, in earlier years many ballots failed to be approved because not enough Members voted one way or another, so new voting rules were adopted in 2007-08 to lower the number required for a quorum.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">My own reaction is that the quorum and voting bar is currently set too low. Others on yesterday’s call expressed similar concerns, and asked me to present alternatives that can be discussed
at our face-to-face meeting next week in New York.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Here are some ideas for consideration – this in not presented as a specific proposal or ballot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Where are the current quorum and balloting rules found?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In Ballots 4 and 5, which can be found on our wiki. These ballots were adopted in 2007-08. There is also a “quorum calculator” The quorum rule reads as follows:
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">A ballot result will be considered valid only when more than half of the number of currently
active members has participated. The number of currently active members is the average number of member organizations that have participated in the
<u>previous three meetings</u> (both teleconferences and face-to-face meetings).”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">According to the quorum calculator, as of Sept. 6, only 10 Member companies had participated in teleconferences or meetings during the previous three meetings (the teleconferences
on Aug. 9 and 26, and the call on Sept. 6), so the minimum required for a quorum was set at 6 Members. Please note that actual voting on Ballots is not counted as “participation” for purposes of calculating a quorum, nor is posting of messages on the Forum
list-serv – only participating in calls or at face-to-face meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">The voting rule reads as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">"In order for the motion to carry, two-thirds or more of the votes cast by the permanent members in the CA category must be in favor of the motion,
and at least 50% plus one of the votes cast by the permanent members in the browser category must be in favor of the motion".<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">The voting rules for CA only require approval of 2/3 “of the votes cast” by CAs, and only “50% plus one of the votes cast” by browsers. If no votes are cast by CAs or
by the browsers as a group, there is no minimum threshold and a ballot can be approved by a positive vote of the other group.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Possible changes to voting rules and quorum rules<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">1. <u>Voting rules</u>: A Member’s failure to vote could be interpreted as acquiescence or indifference, but it does not reflect support. It doesn’t seem right that a ballot could pass without
any affirmative votes from either the browsers or the CAs as separate groups – that doesn’t seem like “substantial consensus.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A simple solution is to change the voting rules as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“No ballot will be adopted without at least one affirmative vote from
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">the permanent members in the CA category and at least one affirmative vote from the permanent members in the browser category.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">2.
<u>Quorum rules</u>: There are more possibilities for changes to the quorum rules.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">(a) If the Forum adopts an annual membership fee as a condition to membership – all members who pay the annual membership
fee shall be counted for purposes of calculating a quorum (as payment of a fee indicates current activity). There would be no separate requirement of attending calls or meetings, or casting votes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Otherwise, if there are no annual membership fees:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">(b) We could extend the period of “look-back” time to determine activity from the present “previous three meetings” to “<u>previous
three [or six] full calendar months plus any partial month</u> at the time the quorum requirement is being calculated.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">(c) We could include
<u>voting and/or posting messages</u> on the CABF private or public list-serv during the calculation period as evidence of “activity”, not just participating on a call or in a meeting. However, this would require someone to do lots of checking and calculations
to maintain the quorum requirements, which is an administrative burden.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">(d) We could send a standard email message every 3 months to listed Forum member saying, in effect, “This message is to confirm
that you are still and active member of the Forum. If you are active, please hit Reply and respond to this message. If we don’t hear from you within 10 days, we will move your company to Inactive status for quorum purposes (but you can still vote on ballots
and post to the list-serv).” If we don’t hear back within 10 days, we would send one further message with a 10 day time limit. After that, the company would not count for quorum purposes unless and until it responds to the quarterly quorum check message
or actually votes on a matter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> The advantage of this approach is that it would be relatively easy to send the quorum message once a quarter, and count
the responses.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">(e) If the one-week voting period for a ballot comes to an end and the ballot will fail for lack of a quorum, we could have
a rule that <u>automatically extends the voting</u> by a second week, and then send a message to all Members “This ballot is about to fail for lack of a quorum. Voting has been extended by one week. Please vote so we can reach a quorum!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">(f) Some combination of the above.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is possible that some ballots will fail because of lack of a quorum, but to me this is an indication that there is not “substantial consensus” to approve the ballot issues – either there
was lack of support, or even passive opposition to the matter. In my opinion, it would be better to approve fewer ballots (but build stronger support for those ballots) than to pass many ballots with only shallow support from the Members.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">We can discuss this at our meeting next week if there is time on the Agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Bradley Hand ITC";color:#0F243E">Kirk R. Hall<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Operations Director, Trust Services<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trend Micro<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">+1.503.243.5405<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
<table><tr><td bgcolor=#ffffff><font color=#000000><pre>TREND MICRO EMAIL NOTICE
The information contained in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be subject to copyright or other intellectual property protection. If you are not the intended recipient, you are not authorized to use or disclose this information, and we request that you notify us by reply mail or telephone and delete the original message from your mail system.</pre></font></td></tr></table>